Andy Murray faces Donald Young while James Ward is preferred to Kyle Edmund in
Great Britain's first Davis Cup World Group tie since 2008

When Andy Murray goes out to face the USA's Donald Young tonight, in the opening rubber of a fascinating Davis Cup tie, he will be playing at the most quintessentially American venue you could imagine: a 40,000-seater baseball ground entitled Petco Park.

Murray – who caused a short-lived media storm on Wednesday with a fake wedding announcement – is often described as left-field, but has never actually played there before. Mind you, the whole experience of contesting a world group match will be a novelty for a British team who have not scored a victory at this elite level for almost 30 years.

Murray's match against Young is due to start at 7pm GMT at this stadium within a stadium. Temporary stands have been set up to the west of the court, reducing capacity to a cosy 8,000, while the east side is overlooked by the soaring bleachers frequented by fans of the San Diego Padres. It might sound like a dog's breakfast, but the US Tennis Association should actually be commended for creating a dramatic and unusual venue.

So what of the tennis? The British team's prospects are certainly stronger than they were 24 hours ago, given that John Isner, the world No 13, has been ruled out with an ankle injury.

"We've got a chance of winning this match even though the US probably go in as strong favourites," said Murray admitted yesterday, after attending the draw ceremony at Balboa Park, adjacent to San Diego's world-famous zoo.

In all probability, Murray will still have to win both his singles matches – as well as tomorrow's doubles encounter with the world-leading Bryan brothers – if Great Britain are to progress to the quarter-final stage of the competition in April.

On the face of things, though, the absence of Isner would seem to lighten his load. The biggest concern for Britain's team captain Leon Smith was that Murray would become embroiled in a series of exhausting four- or five-set matches – a particular worry in the light of his painstaking return from back surgery in September.

Of course, Murray could still find it difficult against Young – a left-hander ranked No. 79 – in tonight's opening match, especially on the slippery clay court that seems to have been specifically prepared to make him uncomfortable. But at least it is easier to return serve against Young – a relatively diminutive tennis player at under 6ft tall – than it would have been against the 6ft 9in Isner.

Normally a baseball stadium, Petco Park has been converted for the Davis Cup

Smith also faced a difficult decision with regard to Britain's second singles player. The mercurial British No. 2 Dan Evans never came into the equation, owing to an indifferent record on clay and his disinclination to travel to Hawaii last week to prepare. So it boiled down to a straight fight between Kyle Edmund, the emerging 19-year-old who won a Futures event in Florida a fortnight ago, and the higher-ranked 26-year-old James Ward.

All the pre-event expectation was that Edmund would be picked, especially as Ward had only won one of his four matches to date this year, in the first round of qualifying for the Australian Open. But Ward has been practising well in San Diego and is understood to have beaten Edmund in a decisive head-to-head eliminator on Wednesday afternoon. He also beat Sam Querrey – the world No. 49 whom he will play tonight – in their only previous meeting at Queen's Club in 2011.

"Kyle's got a really bright future," said Smith yesterday. "I'm sure he's going to play a big part in Davis Cup ties to come. At the end of the day we've got to do what's right for the team. James has played really well on this court over the last few days, and the matchups for him are good ones, that's why he got the nod."

Although US team captain Jim Courier has declined to admit it in so many words, everyone knows that he commissioned the court with Murray in mind. "There's less stability with your movement [on clay]," Murray explained last year, before making the bold decision to skip Roland Garros – thus sparing his long-term back injury from further aggravation – and concentrate on his grass-court challenge instead.

"It's not easy to put a clay court down so quickly," said Smith yesterday. "The gamble is that it's not going to be perfect because it's a temporary surface. The clay doesn't have the chance to embed over years and years, so it's slippy."

During the preparations for Great Britain's full world group tie since 2008, Smith has done everything possible to keep his selections under wraps, arranging practice behind closed doors and declining even to discuss the dilemmas until yesterday's reveal.

One of the more interesting calls was the choice of Dom Inglot as second doubles specialist alongside Colin Fleming. Inglot has clearly earned his place, by virtue of his status as Britain's highest-ranked man, but there is a potential downside in the fact that he has never played with either Fleming or Murray before. He could be called into action if today's singles matches turn into lengthy dogfights.

America's sports fans will clearly be a little distracted this weekend as New York prepares to host the Super Bowl – or Frosty Bowl as it might be renamed given forecasts of temperatures around zero degrees Fahrenheit. In San Diego, though, they have the advantage of a balmy year-round climate that rarely drops below 60 degrees.